


Just a Good For Nothing Skirt Chaser

by OhSoSheWrites



Series: Falling For the Skirt Chaser [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22933462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhSoSheWrites/pseuds/OhSoSheWrites
Summary: Things have been strained between Byleth and Sylvain since the night in his room and they come to a head one night.
Relationships: Sylvain Jose Gautier/My Unit | Byleth
Series: Falling For the Skirt Chaser [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1612996
Comments: 12
Kudos: 74





	Just a Good For Nothing Skirt Chaser

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so this was not what I planned but as I went to work on Part 3 of this series, I realized I had been neglecting Sylvain’s supports and I can’t really write a Sylvain fic without them and really his very tense B support had to go before the Goddess Tower. So I have removed “so Wrong, So Right” and will rewrite it and this is the actual follow up to Pt 1. It is darker than I intended and Sylvain comes off not so great in parts but his B support is kind of a trip and I wanted to get into his head and we need the low for him to start fixing himself. I use most of the B support dialogue but it kind goes in a different direction at the end.

  
  


After the night she brought him tea and almost ended up in his bed, Sylvain couldn’t get the Professor, Byleth, off his mind. He remembered the way she had felt in his arms, how she had tasted... How badly he had wanted to finish what they started.

It didn’t seem like it was a mutual feeling, because she kept him at a polite distance. Every once in a while, he thought that maybe there was something when she looked at him, when he flirted with her, but it disappeared as fast as it came and he was sure he imagined it. 

It frustrated him, not that she shut him down persay, but that she could be so responsive in his arms and then act like it was nothing,like it never even happened. Hell, she showed  _ Claude _ more affection than him. Not that he was jealous. He abhorred jealousy.

So Sylvain vowed to move on and forget it ever happened. There were plenty of other women at the monastery, ones who would be happy to give into his many charms and so he pursued them more than ever, until his latest romantic mishap ended right in front of Byleth.

“What happened?” She asked softly as his latest conquest, was it Laura? Linda? (Not like it mattered now) stormed off.

Sylvain fought a great. She was literally the last person he wanted to see right now. But he forced an easy smile. “Oh, Professor. Heh, I didn't realize you were there. If we keep running into each other like this, people will start to talk.” 

Byleth’s face was as blank as always, though there was something almost like annoyance in her eyes. Sylvain considered getting reaction out of her a win, though he pasted on an insincere smile and quickly apologized. “Hey, don't get mad! I was joking. Ah, forget it. What do you need?” 

He doubted she was looking for him in particular, she had been quietly avoiding being alone with him. Another thing that had stung. 

“I was on my way to the dining hall,” she answered and then gave him a level look, “girl problems?”

Sylvain shrugged. “I guess. I fell for that girl recently, but I just wanted to have some fun and leave it at that. So I told her we should break it off. I guess she was feeling a little more serious than I was. She started crying, and everything got a bit... Complicated.”

Byleth was quiet and Sylvain wished he knew what was going through her mind. Was she disgusted? Was she remembering the night in his room and wondering if that had been a bit of fun? Maybe remembering his promise to pursue her? Or did she not care either way? And why did it matter so much what she was thinking?

“ _ You’re _ complicated,” she said after a moment, which wasn’t the answer he expected. 

What did she mean by that? She seemed almost disappointed in him and he reacted defensively. “Come on, Professor. Playing around with girls is the most fun a guy can have.”

“I see.” She answered and something flashed in her eyes, but he was too irritated to examine it. She had been ignoring him for a month, had brushed him off like he was nothing, like she hadn’t come apart in his arms, if only for a few minutes,

And the annoying thing was he couldn’t forget it. He hadn’t been able to just dismiss her and it annoyed him. Especially now that she was standing here daring to judge him.

“I don’t care what you think of me,” he continued coldly.

Byleth took a step back, but he barely noticed, he was too angry. At her, at all the women who wanted him for the wrong reasons, at his parents, at the world that had turned his brother into a monster. 

“I don’t intend to change my life. I'm a good-for-nothing, if you haven't noticed, but I'm still a noble with a Crest. That's all anyone cares about. It's best to avoid getting too serious with fools like that. It only leads to trouble. You were smart enough to know that, weren’t you?”

“Is this what this is about?” Byleth asked him, studying him carefully.

But Sylvain ignored her, continuing his rant. “You were probably smart to turn me down after all I'm gonna be forced into an arranged marriage with some random noble woman anyway.”

His parents were already lining up candidates. They had suggested Ingrid but Sylvain had vetoed it, just not as loudly as she had. Although he at least  _ liked _ Ingrid, but because he liked her, he knew she deserved better than him. 

“Sylvain...”

He cut her off, not wanting to hear her pity. “You didn’t know you had a Crest, did you?”

And not just any crest. An incredibly rare, powerful one that was thought to be lost to history and yet she had managed to be blissfully ignorant of it. No expectations, no being told her only worth was a fluke of genetics.

“Not until I came to the Monastery,” she told him, seeming almost wary. 

“I suppose a mercenary wouldn’t be concerned with such things, anyway,” he said bitterly, “unlike us poor nobles.”

Byleth tilted her head, watching him and then she stepped a little closer. “What was your experience?” 

“I have always known I had a Crest,” Sylvain told her, “Most children who are born to noble families are tested upon birth to see if they bear one. Even descendants of the 10 Elites, like myself, can't be legitimate heirs without a Crest. That means, as children, we're only accepted if we're born with one.”

He had been five the first time he remembered hearing the word Crest. It was the day that Miklan had shoved him in a well. He hadn’t understood what it meant then, just it was the reason his big brother hated him so much. 

“The heads of most noble houses keep having kids until they get one with a Crest,” he continued, his father had been lucky, he had only had to try twice. “Those children grow up to be heads of their houses, and the vicious cycle continues. Do you get it now? To all these commoner girls, I'm just a trophy. Or rather, a studhorse.”

How many girls had professed to be interested in him and then he had heard them whispering to their friends? Or whispered it was safe, in the heat of the moment, trying to talk him into not using protection. Too many to count. And after the first dozen, he had vowed that if they were going to use him, he’d use them right back. Keep it fun, no strings involved, no emotions. 

“That’s cynical,” Byleth told him quietly. 

Sylvain shrugged. “Perhaps. But that doesn’t change the fact that these girls don’t love me. They only love the potential rewards of loving me.”

“How do you know that none of them care?” Byleth countered, “or do you have such a low opinion of yourself that you don’t think anyone could want you for you?”

“You didn’t,” Sylvain pointed out.

To his amazement, she blushed, her eyes glancing around to see if anyone was around. “That’s not.... It wasn’t appropriate, Sylvain.” 

“So you did want me?” He asked, stepping closer to her, one hand reaching out to rest on her waist. 

“That’s not... That’s not the point...” she told him, obviously flustered, “and this isn’t about me. It’s about you and the way you treat people. And honestly, seeing the way your relationships end, how you talk about the women you go out with? No, I don’t want that. I don’t want to be a trophy, someone you bed to prove that you can.”

“Didn’t you know that having a crest means being a trophy?” He asked her, not bothering to hide his bitterness, “that is how it’s always been for the rest of us, why should you be any different?”

Byleth pushed him away. “I think we’re done here. I will see you in class tomorrow.”

Sylvain swore as she turned away. “By- Professor, wait.”

She turned back. “Why, so you can insult me some more? Or share why you feel entitled to using all those poor girls? Because I think I have heard enough.”

Sylvain looked around, wondering if they had an audience, but the sun had gone down as they’d been out there and they seemed to be alone. “I am an ass,” he began, running his hand through his hair, “and I am sorry, I just... I shouldn’t have said any of that.”

“But did you mean it?” Byleth asked him quietly.

“About the women who want my crest?” He asked, “yeah. I do. But about you? No, of course not.” The words came out quickly, probably too quickly. 

“You were angry at me,” Byleth said quietly, “because of my crest?”

“No,” Sylvain said sincerely, “not because of that.” Maybe he had some mixed feelings about her crest, that the idea that there could be a whole other way to live, but he was honest to admit that wasn’t why he had lost his temper. “I guess I’m not used to rejection, didn’t take it well.”

He decided to play all his cards, since he had already made a huge ass of himself. “And I didn’t like that you were able to just move on and forget about it when I can’t stop thinking about it...”

Her blue eyes went wide. “Sylvain...” Then her eyes narrowed. “If that’s true, it certainly hasn’t shown, every time I look, you’re wooing another woman.”

So she had noticed. Apparently she hadn’t been ignoring him the way he had believed. 

“Do you care?” He asked her, stepping so close that their bodies were almost touching. 

She was silent for a moment. “About you? Of course.” Her words made his heart skip a beat, which was silly given the tension between them. “But what you do in your own time isn’t my business, I suppose, except if it affects your work and I shouldn’t have interfered.”

He reached for her then. “What if I want you to care?” He asked her, pulling her right against his body, knowing it was stupid and foolish and anyone could walk in on them, but not caring. 

“Sylvain...” 

He kissed her then, swallowing her protest. She was still for a moment and then she kissed him back, weaving her arms around his neck and leaning into him. Kissing her was every bit as good as he remembered and he wanted to stay in that moment or better yet, pick her up and carry her to his dorm and lose himself in her. 

But he knew that wouldn't happen and after a moment, she pulled away.

“Sylvain...” She shook her head. “That wasn’t appropriate.”

“Since when do I do the appropriate thing?” He challenged, “I told you, I’m a good for nothing.”

He stepped back and let her go. “And you know that right? That’s why you won’t give me the time of day.”

“Sylvain...”

“I should get going,” he said, cutting her off, “don’t want someone to come looking for one of us after all, that would be awkward. Thanks for the chat, Professor. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He hurried away, not caring that she was staring after him. His mind was spinning from the encounter. The anger he had felt, the pain of her rejection, and the moment when it had felt like he might care, and the kiss that had followed. He knew he had screwed up. He kept doing that. 

But kissing her had felt right. He had kissed a lot of women and it had never felt like that. Had never tied him inside like this either. He knew he had crossed a line, but also that he had been cruel and he would apologize tomorrow and after that, maybe he could work on proving himself to her, showing that there was more to him than a good for nothing skirt chaser. 

Because for the first time in his life, he wanted to believe that was true.

  * End




End file.
